ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[First Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No. 4854
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: MAY 15, 2025
The Assembly Appropriations Committee reports favorably and with committee amendments Assembly Bill No. 4854 (1R).
As amended and reported, this bill modifies the laws governing the allocation of State aid for auxiliary services and remedial services to nonpublic school students.
The amended bill specifically requires the Commissioner of Education to establish a process by which school districts are to be reimbursed for costs that are incurred to provide auxiliary and remedial services for eligible nonpublic school students. Pursuant to the amended bill, school districts are to be reimbursed for costs within the limits of applicable maximum per service aid amounts, as established by the commissioner. The maximum per service aid amounts are to be determined by dividing the amount annually appropriated to provide auxiliary and remedial services in the annual appropriations act by the average number of documented services delivered in the prior three school years. In the second full school year following the date of enactment of the bill and every third school year thereafter, the commissioner is required to conduct a survey, which is to collect from service providers information as the commissioner deems necessary to calculate the average and range of costs incurred to provide services. The commissioner is required to report the findings of the survey to the Governor and the Legislature and is to use the report to inform recommendations on the annual appropriations to provide auxiliary and remedial services.
In distributing State aid for auxiliary and remedial services, the commissioner is required to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, the amounts annually appropriated for auxiliary services and remedial services are fully exhausted by the end of the school year for which the maximum amounts are established and that the amounts appropriated are equitably distributed among school districts applying for reimbursement. To the extent permitted by federal law, the commissioner may establish limits on the duration and frequency of certain auxiliary and remedial services in order to ensure that the greatest number of eligible students are provided services throughout the school year and that, to the greatest extent possible, the amount annually appropriated for the services is available to reimburse school districts during the entirety of the school year.
The reimbursement process to be implemented by the commissioner pursuant to the amended bill is to permit school districts to apply quarterly for reimbursement payments. The details of the reimbursement process are to be annually announced on July 15 of the school year, and districts can begin submitting for reimbursement on September 1. Reimbursements are to be made to school districts throughout the school year until the full amount annually appropriated as State aid for nonpublic school auxiliary and remedial services has been fully expended.
School districts seeking reimbursement under the amended bill are to submit applications on a quarterly basis and adhere to all established submission guidelines, accounting and budgeting guidance, documentation requirements, and defined timelines for reimbursement.
In order to ensure the full reimbursement of eligible costs, the bill also removes provisions of law setting forth the calculation of both categories of aid. Under current law, State aid allotments for an upcoming school year are calculated by multiplying the applicable per pupil service cost by the number of students who were previously identified as eligible to receive each service.
The bill also removes sections of current law that: 1) require school districts to refund unexpended State aid for nonpublic auxiliary and remedial services; and 2) require the commissioner to prorate State nonpublic auxiliary and remedial services aid amounts downward, in the event that the amount of State aid appropriated for those purposes is insufficient.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS:
The committee amended the bill to:
· including legislative findings and declarations, which express the Legislature’s intent that annual appropriations to provide nonpublic auxiliary and remedial services be fully expended each year and that the maximum per service aid amounts established each year maintain the quality of services provided to eligible nonpublic students and the overall sustainability of the auxiliary and remedial services programs;
· remove provisions of the bill requiring the maximum per service aid amounts for auxiliary and remedial services to be established based on various cost and service trends, as well as projected estimates of the number of services to be provided, students eligible for each service, and the costs to provide the services;
· instead require that the maximum per service aid amounts for auxiliary and remedial services be calculated by dividing the amount annually appropriated to provide services by the average number of documented services delivered in the prior three school years; and
· require, in the second full school year following the date of enactment of the bill and every third school year thereafter, the commissioner to conduct a survey, which is to collect from service providers information as the commissioner deems necessary to calculate the average and range of costs incurred to provide nonpublic auxiliary and remedial services. The commissioner is to report the findings of the survey to the Governor and the Legislature and is required to use the report to inform recommendations on the annual appropriation to provide services to nonpublic school students.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that this bill would result in an indeterminate increase in costs for the State, as well as concurrent cost increases and revenue increases for local school districts. These increases cannot be estimated because the provisions of the bill are dependent funding appropriated by the Legislature.
Under the bill, the department would determine the maximum per service aid amounts by dividing the amount annually appropriated to provide auxiliary and remedial services by the average number of documented services delivered in the prior three school years. The bill further provides that reimbursements would be paid until the amounts annually appropriated for the provision of eligible services are fully exhausted. The OLS is unable to predict future appropriation amounts.
The bill may additionally result in a cost increase for the State in the second full year following enactment and every third year thereafter associated with conducting a survey concerning the average and range of costs incurred to provide auxiliary and remedial services, to the extent that existing staff and resources are insufficient to conduct the survey.